Outnumbered
by SnowBirdie
Summary: Harry Potter is all grown up and the Mrs. decides to leave for the weeked. For three days, Harry Potter is going to spend some quality time with the kids, but he is feeling quite outnumbered.
1. Thursday night

"Outnumbered"  
  
Author: Birdie Hale  
  
Rating: PG-13   
  
Description: Harry Potter is all grown up and we are going to see how life in the Potter residence how can make one feel completely 'outnumbered'.   
  
  
Thursday December 18  
  
The snow swirled endlessly around the cottage, where at the present time, not a restless being stirred. The rooms were dark and the house was silent, there were only two souls awake in the whole cottage.  
  
Harry Potter, also known as the boy-who-lived, now at the tender age of forty-three, sat in bed with his wife, Hermione at his side. At the moment, she had immersed herself in a book of her latest favorite, witching romances. She looked thoughtful as she bit her lower lip, concentrating on the words in front of her. Harry smiled as he watched his wife, entranced in her book. He loved her more than anything, and the past twenty-four years had been the best in his life. He put his hand to her hair and wrapped one strand around his finger.   
  
"Hermione..." He purred seductively.  
  
"Not now, Harry, can't you see that I am busy?"   
  
Harry was a little hurt, but just laughed at his wife. She loved her books, no matter what was happening around her.   
  
Harry leaned forward put her book down and kissing her on the cheek. She looked at him with annoyance written all over her face. She looked at his loving and playful eyes and sighed in exasperation. This was not going to be easy for her.   
  
"Well, since you have forced me away from my reading, I might as well tell you now." She said, placing a hand over his,  
  
"Yes, love?"  
  
Her face was expressionless, so he continued to smile and gaze into her deep brown eyes.  
  
"Harry, I am tired. I feel physically and mentally drained. Taking care of the house and everyone in it is a lot of work, you know. Not to mention my job is arduous enough, I have to handle everyone else under this roof and that. I need a holiday for myself. I plan on going to the Caribbean for a bit, just to get a little sun and finish my reading. It is just one weekend, Harry, and there is nothing that you can say to stop me."   
  
With that, she folded her arms across her chest and glared at him, daring to object to her wishes. Harry gave her a smile that could only warm a frozen cavern.  
  
"Hermione, I think that it is a wonderful idea! I thought that we needed a holiday! I am sure that..."  
  
"Harry, not a time off for us, a vacation for ME. I need time off ALONE."  
  
Harry was hurt. There hadn't been a time in the whole twenty-four years that they had been married that they had been apart.   
  
"But... Hermione. I thought..."  
  
"No Harry, I am going to have to be firm about this. I need this break and you know it. I work the house and my office and it all has finally caught up with me." Hermione took a deep breath and continued.  
  
"I am sure that you will be able to handle everything with out me for two days. You defeated the Dark Lord for goodness sake, and now all I ask is for you to do the dishes and keep everyone in order." Hermione leaned over and kissed him gently.   
  
"Hermione, I don't know. They're a bunch of savages."  
  
"I think that this will be good for you. Bonding time with them."  
  
"You're right, Hermione, as usual. I don't know my own children as well as I should. Go, enjoy your holiday." Harry gave her a kiss on the cheek before turning around to shut off the light. Hermione took a deep breath. She was happy that Harry was alright with the idea of her leaving. Her stomach turned with the anticipation of a weekend away.  
  
"Good night, Harry."  
  
"Good night, Hermione."  
  
"Mummy? Daddy? There's a boggart under my bed again..."   
  
Both parents looked at the ceiling and sighed at the same time.   
  
"I'll get it this time, you go to bed, love." Hermione droned as she flung her legs over the side of the bed to where the child was standing.   
  
"Alright, dear. Let's go." She said to the small child as she wrapped her arms around her mother's legs.   
  
"Good night, Princess."  
  
"Good night, Daddy."  
  
Harry continued to gaze at the ceiling until he heard his wife climb back into bed. How would he survive a weekend without his wife? She was the real controller of the house.  
  
"Remind me to hex the one who leaves their school books lying about the house." Hermione said as she snuggled close to her husband. Harry could only chuckle to himself.  
  
With that, they fell asleep together in their warm bed, different anticipations of what was to come the following days.  
  
  
How was that? No beta or anything!? It is just the 1st chapter there are 3 days in this weekend! Harry is going to have a lot of fun... Oh my goodness that is extremely short. No worries, I will make the 2nd chapter three times as long! I promise! This is just getting started! 


	2. Friday morning

"Outnumbered"  
  
Day 2  
  
Friday morning-  
  
Hermione looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She was finally going to get the holiday that she deserved and Harry was alright with it. She knew that she would miss her family dearly, but sometimes, one just needs to get away from it all. She took a deep breath and turned to the bedroom door with her suitcase at hand, stopping when she saw her husband leaning against the door frame with his casual, laid-back look.   
  
"Are you sure that you are going to be alright, then?" She asked, concerned that he was going to ask her to stay home. She truly felt bad just leaving him there with the others.  
  
"Love, you go and enjoy your trip. Make sure you send us a post card and tell us all about the white beaches, eh?" He walked over to his wife and kissed her forehead.   
  
Harry lifted up her suitcase and walked with her down the hall. The shouts could be heard all the way from the top of the stairs, and Harry winced at the thought of the challenges that lie ahead. Hermione took his free hand as they walked down the stairs together to meet their doom.   
  
When they finally waked into the kitchen, it was the same as it was every morning in the Potter residence.   
  
Utter chaos.  
  
"I said stop it, Corliss! You're getting toast in my hair!"  
  
"What do you care, Candace, it's not like you brush it or anything. It's just a big brown mop on your ugly head."  
  
"Girls, please! I am TRYING to read!"  
  
"Oh sod off, Sonia."  
  
"Corliss, watch your language, you're setting a bad example for Mab."  
  
"Sod off Asenath."  
  
"Mabel! You see what I mean, Corliss!?"  
  
"GIRLS!" Came Hermione's voice from the back of the kitchen.  
  
The room quickly silenced and six heads turned to face their mother.   
  
"Are we going on holiday?" asked Corliss excitedly, off-handedly throwing another bit of toast at her sister.   
  
"No, dear, we're not, I am. Girls, I need a break and I am just going to take the weekend off."  
  
A great gasp could be heard from all around the table.  
  
"But who will look after us?" Sonia asked. A look of worry and panic ran across her face.   
  
"You're father will."  
  
"Dad?" was the all around reply. They all looked at Harry standing in back of their mother. "Dad can't do anything right!" complained Candace.   
  
"Well thank you for your confidence in my abilities as a parent, girls. I don't think Mum has been doing it by herself for the past twenty three years." Harry said, crossing his arms.   
  
Discussion broke out among the table as all six girls, ranging from ages twenty-three to four began to worry about the next weekend.   
  
"I am only going to be gone for three days! Your father isn't that incompitent."  
  
"Thank you, love."  
  
Hermione went to each girl and placed a kiss at the top of her head. After, she went back to Harry and kissed him lightly before picking up her luggage.   
  
"Now be good while I'm gone. No late-night-junk-food parties, do you hear me? And don't take advantage of your father's ignorance, he's smarter than you think."   
  
With that, a 'pop' noise was heard, and Mrs. Potter was well on her way to the Caribbean.  
  
"Now what?" drones Naresha, who had been silent this whole time.   
  
"Daddy, when's Mummy coming home?" sobbed Mabel, the youngest of the six.  
  
"Mummy will only be gone a weekend, Princess. Don't worry, Daddy's here."  
  
"But I want Mummy!" The little girl began to cry louder than Harry had heard her in a while. All the other five just rolled their eyes and scrambled to get away from the table. In a matter of minutes, the kitchen was totally cleared with the exception of a crying tot and a very confused Harry Potter.   
  
Harry picked up the little girl and held her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to sob into her father's shoulder.  
  
"Now Mab, I need you to help me this weekend. Do you think you can do that? I can't take care of all your sisters at once. How about it, I think we would make a great team." He brushed aside a strand of black hair that had fallen in front of her deep green eyes. She smiled up at him and reached up to kiss his cheek.   
  
Harry remembered the day when Mabel was born. She had been a complete and happy surprise. Harry and Hermione hadn't expected anymore children after Candace. Mabel was the only child in the Potter residence with green eyes. The rest were deep chocolate pools, resembling Hermione. Mabel was always special to Harry because he was the only one who could make her laugh and feel important.   
  
"Daddy, can I go play with Nathan?"  
  
"Of course, Princess. Is it alright with his mother?"   
  
"She said I can play whenever I want!"  
  
"Alright then. Come home soon." With that, Harry kissed his daughter's cheek and sent her on her way to their neighbor's house. They had a son Mabel's age and she just adored that boy.   
  
Harry sat at the kitchen table, thinking about his weekend. He always thought that he was close with his daughters, but for some reason, he felt distant from them. Asenath, the oldest, graduated from Hogwarts years ago as Head Girl. She was twenty-three and still living with her family. She worked with the ministry in for Foreign Relations Department. Sonia, had just graduated from Hogwarts as Head Girl the previous year. She was a book worm and a duplicate of her mother. At age eighteen, she was enrolled to be the next transfiguration professor once the current one retires. Naresha, at the delicate age of sixteen has not much to say about her. She wears extremely small robes and Harry doesn't like it one bit. She plans to be famous singer one day. Corliss is the closest to Harry when it comes to genes. She inherited his black hair, his humor and his quidditch skills. Once again, Gryffindor has another Potter seeker, winning them every game possible at age fifteen. Candace is an outsider, or so Harry knows her as. She has a love for cooking and potions that Harry never thought possible with one of his children. Secretly, Harry had thought that Hermione had a secret affair with Severus Snape, Candace being the result. But Candace was all Harry and Hermione, now at thirteen, loved her biting sarcasm.   
  
Harry sighed and stood up. This weekend, he was going to get to know his children much better. 


	3. Friday noon

"Outnumbered"  
  
  
Day 2  
  
Friday-noon  
  
Harry put on a determined face as he walked up the stairs to where the six of his daughters resided. The third floor was for the girls only, Harry and Hermione occupied the second floor, while the first floor was a buffer zone between the generations. It was on rare occasion that he went to the top level of his home, for he only went up to talk to his girls, or get something from them. He walked around the light blue corridor when he noticed one of the doors was cracked open. It was Sonia's room. He decided to talk to her and catch up on father to daughter stuff.  
  
He knocked twice.  
  
No response. So he knocked again.  
  
"Soni, are you in there, love?"   
  
No response. Harry opened the door a little. She was there, reading, as usual, sitting on her bed with her nose buried in her book. Harry cleared his throat to tell her that he was there and wanted to come in.  
  
"Soni, er... Soni, I was wondering if you wanted to talk, just like old times?" Harry asked. When he continued to hear nothing but silence, he said it a little louder.  
  
"OY, SONIA! HAVE YOU GONE DEAF!?"   
  
"DAD! Please. I am really trying to read this and you are bothering me!"  
  
"But, I just wanted to talk to you."  
  
"Be a normal father for once and encourage me to study!" With that, she pushed Harry out of her room and slammed the door. 'Wonder where she got that from'. Harry thought to himself sarcastically.   
  
He continued to walk down the hall until he saw another door totally opened.   
  
He decided to try his luck again. He knocked on the door.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Hello, Candace. Thought we could spend some quality time together."  
  
"Oh, hi Dad. Sure." She jumped on her bed and sat cross-legged in the middle while Harry on the edge.   
  
"So, how are things going in school? Third year. That was one of my favorites."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"It was when I met my Godfather. Uncle Sirius."  
  
"Oh yeah, I remember. Dad, can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Sure, love."  
  
"Why don't I have boobs?"  
  
"Errr..."  
  
"I mean, Corliss has them and she is only two years older than me. All the girls in my year have them and I will just DIE if I don't have them soon!"  
  
"Err..."  
  
"There is this boy in my house, Marlo Finnigan, and I will just DIE if I don't marry him. I know that all guys like boobs and I don't have any! I am THIRTEEN Dad, and I have NOTHING!"  
  
Harry had had enough.   
  
"Err... Why don't we continue this later, like when your mother gets back." Harry walked out of the room as fast as possible and almost ran down the stairs. No more talks with Candace, that was for sure. If Seamus' boy went anywhere near his daughter, that man would get it.  
  
The afternoon wasn't going very well, so he decided that he should take a walk around the yard, to clear his head of thoughts concerning his daughter and Finnigan. He pulled his favorite wool jumper on, wrapped a scarf around his neck and walked out the door. The air was cold and crisp, an excellent December day.  
  
"Hey Dad." Came a voice above him. Corliss was hovering a couple inches above his head on her new StarBrush5500. He smiled at his daughter as she flew ahead quickly.   
  
"Feel like getting your rusty bones on one of these things and teaching me the Wronski Feint as you have promised ages ago?" She said looking as innocent as possible. Harry grinned at her and pulled out his wand.   
  
"Accio Firebolt." His trusty old Firebolt came whizzing around the corner and right into his out-stretched hand.   
  
"Why do you still use that splinter of wood?" She asked as he mounted and kicked off the ground.  
  
"This broom and I have a history together." Harry simply stated.  
  
For the next forty minutes, Harry taught his daughter the technique that had won him so many games in the past. Corliss caught on to the meneuver and perfected it quite rapidly.   
  
"Ready for some one on one?" Corliss asked, holding a snitch out to him. Harry looked at his daughter and grinned. "I'll show you what these rusty old bones can do."   
  
With that, Corliss released the snitch and it went zooming off. Harry and Corliss stared each other down, slowly counting from ten.  
  
"three... two... one." The both sped off in the opposite direction, seeker against seeker, hunting down the snitch. Harry saw his daughter speeding around the trees and heading towards the small forest. He followed her and sped up to her speed. The two strained their eyes, darting back and forth in search of the tiny golden ball.   
  
There it was. Harry saw it. Corliss saw it too. They both sped after it, side by side. Harry pulled out of the chase and dove down as fast as possible, but Corliss was still going strait. He wondered what she was doing, the snitch was right under her. Then, to his horror, he saw what she was doing.  
  
She quickly flung herself so she was flying the broom upside down. Her legs were wrapped around the broomstick and she was only clinging on with one hand. Her other was stretched out to grab the snitch. Harry had never seen a move like that and was proud that his daughter showed no fear. But then the paternal side of Harry kicked in and noticed that she was handing on to a broom with one hand forty feet in the air. Harry almost choked on his fear and flew up to help her.   
  
"Corliss! Get back on your broom!" He yelled.  
  
Corliss continued to reach for the snitch and finally wrapped her cold fingers around the small golden ball. But when she did, she lost all gripping of her broom and fell forty feet from the ground. Harry raced after to try and break her fall, but he was a little late. He heard a 'thud' and then a 'snap'. He was petrified on the spot. What had happened?  
  
Harry flew his broom down and ran to where Corliss had landed. He knelt beside her and checked to see if she was alright.   
  
"DAD! CORLISS! Oh my goodness!" It was Asenath. She came running from the house with Sonia behind her.   
  
"Is she alright?" Asenath asked, concern written all over her face.   
  
Harry lightly tapped the motionless girl's face to try and wake her up.   
  
"Hold on! I have a book on medicine!" Sonia ran as fast as she could back into the house.  
  
In the mean time, Corliss fluttered her eyes open and stared at the faces of her father and sister.   
  
"Wicked move, eh Dad? I think I'll call it 'The Corlissanator'." She sighed. Harry looked at her in shock.   
  
"Anything hurt?"   
  
"Just my arm."  
  
Harry looked down at her right arm and didn't even have to pick up her sleeve to know that it was broken, the funny angle at which it was resting gave it away.   
  
"ewww." Groaned Asenath.  
  
"That bad? Let me see." Corliss tried to lift her head, but screamed with pain at the effort.   
  
"Calm down, we'll get you in the house." Harry picked her up and carried her inside where he laid her on the sofa.   
  
Sonia came down with her book and wand, ready to perform a bone-mending spell.   
  
After an hour, Corliss' bone was back to normal and hanging loosely in a sling. Harry moved some black hair from her face and smiled at her, but then remembered that he was angry, so he frowned.  
  
"Don't EVER do that again, do you understand me? You could have killed yourself!"  
  
"I didn't do anything you wouldn't have done. Mr. Wood tells us hundreds of stories about you every chance he has. Don't deny it, Dad. You were more reckless than I am." She pouted for a little bit until Harry agreed with her.   
  
"Have I ever told you about why I love that old splinter so much?" Harry asked her.  
  
She shook her head and looked interested in what he had to say.  
  
"Well, when I was in my fourth year, it was the year of the Triwizard Tournament..."  
  
Finally, Harry was able to bond with one of his daughters and get to know her a little more than before. She, in return, learned some things about her rusty-boned father. Harry smiled to himself as he continued to clean the kitchen, later that day. Things were starting to look up for him. 


	4. Friday Afternoon and Night

"Outnumbered"  
  
Day 1  
  
Friday- afternoon  
  
Harry was just beginning to think the day was getting better. With the little accident involving Corliss, he didn't think that things could get much worse.   
  
"Dad! Something's burning!" Shouted Sonia from the parlor. Harry knew that. He standing in the middle of the kitchen covered in a thick cloud of black smoke.   
  
"Girls *cough* Can you *cough* help me?"  
  
Sonia came into the kitchen and her eyes widened.   
  
"ASENATH! NARESHA! CORLISS! CANDACE! HELP!" She shouted up the stairs. Sonia quickly whipped out her wand and began to cast a clearing spell. The smoke began to fade and Harry could finally see the small flames that were coming from the pot on the stove.  
  
The five girls came running in just to see their father extinguish what looked like a flaming chicken dinner.  
  
Harry looked at the pathetic looking black bird and silently swore to it.   
  
"How about junk food... I mean, pizzas?" He asked as he turned to them.  
  
Corliss grinned, Naresha shrugged her shoulders and walked off, Asenath, Sonia and Candace frowned. At least Corliss was excited.   
  
Harry went to the fireplace and threw in some floo powder. "Merlin's Magic Meals" He said into the fire.   
  
A teenage wizard's head popped into the fire and smiled at Harry.  
  
"Hello again, Mr. Potter. What can I get for you tonight?" he asked.  
  
"I'll have two large pizzas, cheese and pepperoni."  
  
"Thank you, that will be twenty three knuts and two sickles."  
  
Harry handed him the coins and the young wizard handed him the pizzas.   
  
All the girls gathered around the table as Harry set the pizzas down. Instantly, as usually, there was a large mess of hands, arms, and multi colored nails flying about, grabbing pizza slices.   
  
After the initial feeding, they once again went their separate ways. Mabel sat at the table, looking at her father while he stared back at her. She began to giggle as she looked at Harry who was smiling back at her.   
  
"Common then, Mabel, time for your bath." He said as he lifted her up off the seat and onto his shoulders. She giggled some more as she held on to his head, pulling his black messy hair.  
  
"Ow, Mabel, love, you're pulling Daddy's hair." He winced as she pulled another handful.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Harry set up the bath for her and helped her put off of her toys in the tub. He sat in the room next door, listening for when she wanted to get out.   
  
"Mabel Potter! Get your bum back here this instant!" Harry hollered down the hall as his little girl ran around the house completely naked. Harry ran after her with her pink fuzzy towel. He could hear her laughing around the corner of the house.   
  
'I'm too old for this.' He continued to repeat in his mind.  
  
"Look who I found." Laughed Asenath with a giggling little girl wrapped in a yellow towel in her arms.   
  
"Thank you, dear. Can you be so kind as to help her put on her nightdress?" Harry said, folding the pink towel back up. Asenath smiled at her father and took Mabel to her room. Harry walked in after her.  
  
"Mabel, you are going to make Daddy grow gray hair." He said as he sat on her pink and flowery bed. She only giggled.  
  
"Come off it, Dad. You're not that old." Asenath laughed as she slipped the purple gown over her sister's head.   
  
"Look who is talking, Asenath. You are going to be twenty four in a couple weeks. I think I'm not the only one getting old."  
  
Asenath looked at her father and smiled. She had long brown hair past her shoulders, her mother's warm brown eyes, and glasses. Harry always thought that Asenath was special. His first born child, almost twenty-four years ago.  
  
Later that night, when Mabel was in bed, Harry and Asenath went back to the parlor for some coffee.   
  
"Dad, you know how you told me I should talk with you before I go and get myself into any real relationships." She said calmly, holding her mug in her hand.  
  
No, he didn't remember, Hermione had said that.  
  
"Well, I met someone at work, and I think that we are really hitting it off. I would like him to come over and meet you and Mum sometime."  
  
"I think that would be nice. Err... What's this boy's name?"  
  
"Jean-Claude Arrete. He's from the French ministry and we have been working together lately."  
  
Harry thought about this for a while. So a French boy was after his little girl.  
  
"Dad? Is it alright then?"  
  
"Sure, love, bring him over. Your mother would be happy to meet him just as much as I am."  
  
She smiled and kissed him on the forehead and ran off to bed.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Slowly, Harry climbed into his warm soft bed. How did Hermione do it? He had no idea. He was slowly drifting off to sleep with the vision of his Hermione in his head when something pulled on his arm.  
  
"Daddy... Daddy, wake up."  
  
*grunt*  
  
"Daddy! Common! There is a boggart under my bed again!" Her pulling was more frantic and she began to hit her father lightly.  
  
"Shhh... Mab, don't worry, there aren't any boggarts under your bed, dear. Here, let me show you."  
  
Harry fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table and put them on. He yawned as Mabel took his hand and led him to her room.   
  
Harry looked under the bed for her and tucked her back into bed.  
  
"Go to sleep, Mab, tomorrow we can do something fun. How about that?"   
  
"The zoo?"  
  
"Errr... Only if you don't want to see the reptile house."  
  
She giggled and stretched out her arms to her father. She pulled him in for a big hug and kissed his cheek.  
  
"Good night, Daddy." She whispered in his ear.  
  
"Good night, Princess." He whispered back. 


	5. Saturday morning

"Outnumbered"  
  
Day 2  
  
Saturday- morning  
  
  
Harry turned over in his bed and looked at his sleeping daughter. Late that night, she had come crying to him saying that the boggart turned into a giant snake and scared her. So she clambered into bed with daddy and slept there. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. Her eyes were the most beautiful shade of brilliant green that Harry had ever seen.   
  
"Good morning, Princess. Sleep well?" He asked, sitting up.  
  
She nodded her head.   
  
"Go on down to breakfast, I think Candace is making something again." He walked over to the large wardrobe in his room and pulled out his green and gold bathrobe.   
  
Mab jumped off the bed and walked out of the room, dragging her stuffed giraffe with her. Harry remembered that Uncle Ron had given her that giraffe on her first birthday and she hadn't let go of it since then.  
  
Harry scratched his head and closed his eyes and yawned again before opening the door and walking into the bathroom.   
  
"DAD! WHAT THE!!..."   
  
At first, Harry thought that a howler had been let loose, but when he saw Naresha standing in front of him trying to wrap a towel around herself, he closed his eyes and backed out of the bathroom, shouting , "Sorry, Naresha! Sorry!"  
  
"KNOCK NEXT TIME!" Came the scream once he closed the door.   
  
  
  
Harry decided to go downstairs and eat while he waited for HIS bathroom to be open again.   
  
Downstairs, Candace, and Mabel were the only ones around the kitchen. Naresha was using his bathroom because the others were probably occupied.  
  
"Here, Dad." Candace placed a hot plate of scrambled eggs and ham in front of him and a cup of tea after. Harry looked at his daughter in amazement.   
  
"This looks great, Candace. Thank you."  
  
Harry quickly wolfed down the breakfast and watched as the other four came down the stairs.   
  
Now that the showers were free, he could go and get ready for another wonderful day.  
  
When he came out of the shower, he noticed that everyone was gone, except Mabel. She sat on her chair and was playing with her giraffe.   
  
"Where did everyone go?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Asenath went with a Fwench guy, Sonia went to the libary, Naresha went er... I don't know, Corliss went out with Beatrice and Candace is shopping." Mabel smiled at her father, proud of her knowing so much information.   
  
"I see. So it's just you and me today then is it?" Harry picked up his daughter and threw her in the air. She giggled and laughed with him as he spun her around the room.   
  
~*~*~*~   
  
"Daddy, pass me the cakes, please. I think Sabrina wants some." Mabel said with all due seriousness and politeness.  
  
"Well of course, Princess. Here you are, Sabrina." Harry passed the tiny flowered plate with invisible cakes to Mab who put one on the plate for Sabrina, the purple unicorn doll.   
  
"Are you having fun, Daddy?" Mabel said off handedly as she wiped the mouth of the giraffe on her left.   
  
"Oh, yes, Mab, I am." Harry fixed his pink tiara so it would stay on his head.   
  
"Good, I think I would like some more tea, please."   
  
Harry picked up the delicate teapot and poured her a cup of imaginary tea.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Come ON, Daddy! Faster, pony! Faster!" Mabel giggled as she rode on Harry's back for the thirteenth time that morning.  
  
"Mabel, honey, I think Daddy has holes in his trousers, now. Pony needs a rest. His back hurts too."  
  
She climbed off Harry's back and kneeled down to his lever.   
  
"Daddy, I think that we need to play dress up." She said, as seriously as possible.  
  
She ran across the house to her room and opened a trunk filled with pink, glitter, dresses, hats, and such. Harry groaned inwardly, but stood up to follow her.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
FLASH  
  
"This is going to be really good."  
  
"Corliss, I don't think this is a good idea. He'll get mad."  
  
"Oh, stuff it, Candace. It's fine."  
  
Harry opened one eye and saw Candace and Corliss standing over him, talking to each other, with a camera at hand.  
  
He smirked and closed his eye again before they could see he was awake.   
  
"Just one last shot..." Corliss smirked.  
  
Before she could take the picture, Harry grabbed them by the legs and the three went toppling over. The two girls screamed as Harry tickled them to the floor.  
  
"Dad! You scared us!" Candace said as they finally settled down.   
  
"Well, serves you right. Snooping around here like there is some big secret. What's the big deal? Why are you laughing?" He asked.  
  
Corliss held up a picture to his face. Picture Harry was snoring on the couch peacefully with lipstick all over his mouth, chin and cheeks and eyeliner around his eyes and forehead. Now he remembered that Mab had insisting on doing his make up for the dress up party.   
  
Corliss couldn't hold it in. She burst out laughing at the sight in front of her.   
  
Harry took the picture from her, ripped it up and went upstairs to wash his face of any exuberant color. 


	6. Saturday afternoon

Sacrifice "Outnumbered"  
  
  
A/N: Thought I might tell you, this one isn't very funny, but you'll see why I need it in the future! Try to enjoy it for my sake!  
Day 2  
  
Saturday - afternoon  
  
  
Harry had totally washed his face clean and went downstairs to find the six girls sitting on the couch, just talking and playing games. Asenath and Sonia were in a discussion on their latest book, Corliss and Naresha were playing a game of exploding snap, and Candace was reading a book to Mabel. Harry smiled at his family and felt so much love and happiness in this room. He would have stayed to talk and play with the girls if Mr. Mumpkins had not come in and landed on Harry's shoulder.   
  
"Mr. Mumpkins!" Mabel shouted as she saw the large barn owl land on Harry. It was never Harry's idea to name the great bird Mr. Mumpkins, but had to go along with it when all the girls agreed. It was actually Mabel who named him after a character in her favorite story, "Mr. Mumpkins goes to Diagon Ally".  
  
Harry took the wad of paper from the owl and stroked his head feathers. Mr. Mumpkins spread his large wings and flew over to his perch by the window.   
  
"Look girls! A letter from Mum." He said, waving a postcard in front of them. They all stood around Harry, waiting for him to read it.  
  
Dear Harry and girls,   
  
I miss you all terribly, but I must say that I am truly enjoying myself here. But sometimes I get extremely bored with sitting around on the beach. I took up riding lessons with a wizard name Roule and I am scuba diving daily. I wish that you all could see your old Mum parasail! It is very much fun! I am coming back tomorrow, and I can't wait to see you all then!  
  
Love,  
Mum  
  
  
  
Harry looked at the picture on the card. The palm trees were swaying in the cool breeze and the waves rolled lazily over the shore. The sun was a magnificent orange in the vivid pink sky. All of the girls sighed as they thought about a handsome, Caribbean Roule riding beside them on a beach beside a setting sun. Harry just furrowed his brow and tried not to think about his wife and the Caribbean wizard.  
  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
After a wonderful dinner, and many compliments to Candace, the chef, the seven Potters went up the stairs to do their own thing, as usual. Harry sat on his bed, thousands of thoughts clustering inside his mind. Wonderful thoughts such as Hermione, the girls, his life, his past, and many other happy times this weekend whirled around his brain as he stared at the empty wall. But something didn't seem quite settled yet. He had spent time with all of his daughters, except one. Naresha.   
  
Naresha had been quiet this whole weekend, shrugging things off and going her separate ways from the rest of the family. The only things she had said to him were from the bathroom incident that he would rather not repeat. She had always been quiet, or so he thought. Naresha was the most anomalous out of the whole family. She had sleek brown hair instead of the feral bush that the others seemed to inherit. Her eyes were a mucky brown and she wasn't the best student either. She hated Quidditch and despised "Hogwarts: A History" nearly shocking both of her parents to death. But there was one thing about Naresha that made her special. She could sing. Harry hadn't known anyone in his or Hermione's family to sing, which wasn't saying much since he didn't know any of his family. But luck had it that Sirius and Remus were the only people, alive, that had known about Lily's voice. Yes, as it turned out, his mother was also a singer, but usually kept it to herself. Naresha had dreams of becoming the greatest witching singer of all time, and even Harry thought it was possible.  
  
He finally decided that he needed to spend a little more time with his daughter that he knew so little about. Once again, treading back up the stairs to the third floor, he continued down the hall until he saw the last door on the right. He straitened his shirt and gave a face of determination as he prepared to complete this most difficult task. He opened the door and walked inside.  
  
There stood his daughter in the middle of the room, wrapped in the arms of a teenage boy, running her hands through his hair and kissing him with a passion that Harry would never dream possible with his little girl. His hands were roaming her back and moving under her shirt, his face was pressed up against hers, clinging to her as if his life depended on it. All color fell from Harry's face and an angry growl came from the back of his throat as he stared at his daughter and this hoodlum.  
  
"NARESHA!"  
  
"DAD!" She quickly backed away from the boy as he slid his hands out from under her shirt and stood back so at least two feet were between them.  
  
"Who in bloody hell are you?" Harry screamed at the boy. He really didn't need to ask once he saw the boy's face. Platinum blond hair, gray eyes, pointed features. It was the progeny of Malfoy.  
  
"Malfoy, Laird Malfoy." The boy drawled.  
  
Harry was about to kill. He looked between the Naresha and this boy and glared at each of them in the eye.  
  
"Out." Harry pointed at the door, his eyes still glued to Naresha's.  
  
Slowly, Laird moved to the door, eyes pleading with Naresha as he moved.  
  
"Faster, Malfoy, or shall I help you out?" Harry threatened.   
  
He picked up his pace and sprinted down the stairs and out the door. When both heard the front door slam, the generations of Potter turned to each other.  
  
"May I ask, WHY IN BLOODY HELL WAS A MALFOY HERE IN THIS HOUSE, LET ALONE SNOGGING MY DAUGHTER!?" He screamed.   
  
"Why don't you ever RESPECT MY PRIVACY!?" She screamed back.  
  
"Don't change the subject, missy. That... that... MALFOY had no right being in this house!"   
  
"He likes me and I like him, there isn't anything you can do about it!"  
  
"A MALFOY, Naresha, MALFOY!"  
  
"What are you going on about?! You have no right to walk into my personal life like this!"   
  
"I'm your FATHER! I can tell you who you can and cannot see!"  
  
"YOU CAN'T CONTROL MY LIFE!! I HATE YOU!!"  
  
Harry was speechless.  
  
"Alright! I said it, you are a terrible father, never letting me do what I want to do! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"  
  
With that, Naresha pushed past her father and ran down the stairs and out the front door, slamming it behind her.  
  
Harry was still rooted at the spot, feeling as if all the Unforgivable curses had hit him over again. Did she really hate him? He felt so hurt and useless, couldn't he do anything right?  
  
He walked out of the room and back to his and shut the door after him. What had he done wrong? Why did she hate him? Was he really that bad of a father? Harry sat there thinking about that and wishing that he could have done something different in that situation, like an 'obliviate' spell or something, when there was a knock at the door.  
  
"Yes?" He responded in a hoarse voice.  
  
"Dad?" Sonia peeked her head out behind the door.   
  
"What Sonia?" He asked, looking down. He didn't want to face another one of his daughter if they had the same feelings as Naresha.  
  
"I know what happened. I'm sorry she said that." Sonia said as she walked over to the bed and sat next to her father.  
  
"Thank you, love, but... Am I really a bad father?" he asked her.  
  
She looked at him and smiled.  
  
"Well, I don't think anyone could have done a better job. Naresha didn't really mean it. She says a lot of things when she is angry, but never really means them. I have caught her and that Malfoy on more then one occasion. You think she would have learned to lock the door by now..."  
  
Harry smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her in for a hug.   
  
"Thanks, Sonia, I really needed to hear that."  
  
"No problem, Dad. You just need to talk to her, that's really all she wants. She went to the pond and I expect she'll be back in a few minutes. She usually does that when she's mad with Mum."   
  
Harry kissed the top of her head and she stood up to leave.   
  
"Oh, and I was supposed to tell you that Mab and Candace are baking tarts and want you downstairs to be their tester." She grinned at him.   
  
Harry nodded, "I'll be down in a bit."   
  
Sonia walked out of the room and shut to door behind her. Their talk had made him feel much better. At least five others still loved him, and he would have a talk wit Naresha when she returned.   
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Harry walked down the stairs and met a wonderful aroma just before he entered the kitchen.   
  
"What is that glorious smell?" He asked as he entered. Mabel looked at her father with a smug face, "I baked you a tart, Daddy. All by myself."  
  
"Well done, Princess. How about we eat that tart now."  
  
"NO DADDY! It has to get colder first." She said in an urgent tone. Harry lughed at his little girl and sat back in his chair. Suddenly, the back door creaked open and slammed shut.  
  
Naresha came striding into the kitchen to get to the stairs.  
  
"We need to talk, Naresha." Harry said, looking at his daughter with pleading eyes, but only received a glaring gaze. She gave her father the most venomous glare he had ever seen, then stormed up the stairs.   
  
"Wow... What did you do to her?" Corliss asked, pointing her thumb at the spot where Narsha had just been.  
  
"I walked in on her and Malfoy." Harry said, once again in a slumped mood.  
  
The table gave an all around sigh of understanding.  
  
"Give her seven hours, then she'll talk."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"That ickle girl needs to learn how to lock a door." Corliss continued as she popped a strawberry into her mouth.   
  
"You mean, you all..."  
  
*General nod*   
  
Harry laughed as he reached across the table for one of the blueberries, chuckling at the fact that every person in that room had walked in on the two. Then all of the chatter continued to buzz around the table as things began to return to normal. Harry hoped that he could sort things out with Naresha, he needed to understand her more, maybe even tell her some things about the Malfoy clan that she might not know...   
  
  
  
  
A/N: I'm SooOO sorry that wasn't exactly the best chapter. I am still trying to figure out how their conversation will go.   
  
Read and Review! I would for you! -Birdie's chant. 


	7. Saturday night

"Outnumbered"  
  
A/N: And so, I decided to prolong Sunday with a little scenario that I had thought up. Hope you like it! Just to pour a little lemon juice on Harry's cuts!  
*Evil Laugh*  
  
  
Saturday - Night  
  
The sky had finally darkened and all was semi quiet in the house of Potter. Harry marched off to his room for a little relaxation time or to just pass out right then and there. He slowly dragged himself up the stairs to his floor of the house and stood in the middle of the hall. He could hear a hefty amount of girlish giggling and it confused him for a bit. 'What are they laughing about now?' he thought to himself. Harry shook his head and shrugged off to his room. As long as he lives, he will never understand the ways of females.  
  
Harry sat on his bed and stared off into the wall, his eyes glassing over and his mind busy with voices and words that had been used earlier that night. No matter how much his other daughters tried to console him, he still felt absolutely worthless as a father.   
  
~^~^~^~  
"May I ask, WHY IN BLOODY HELL WAS A MALFOY HERE IN THIS HOUSE, LET ALONE SNOGGING MY DAUGHTER!?" He screamed.   
  
"Why don't you ever RESPECT MY PRIVACY!?" She screamed back.  
  
"Don't change the subject, missy. That... that... MALFOY had no right being in this house!"   
  
"He likes me and I like him, there isn't anything you can do about it!"  
  
"A MALFOY, Naresha, MALFOY!"  
  
"What are you going on about?! You have no right to walk into my personal life like this!"   
  
"I'm your FATHER! I can tell you who you can and cannot see!"  
  
"YOU CAN'T CONTROL MY LIFE!! I HATE YOU!!"  
  
~^~^~^~  
  
Harry groaned and ran his hands through his hair. Was he really that miserable of a person?  
  
He laid his head on his pillow and put his glasses on the bedside table. He was going to sleep and forget about this wretched afternoon, or so he thought...  
  
Harry slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. Everything seemed to be perfectly peaceful, but something was amiss; it was his 'Harry intuition' acting up again. He placed his glasses back on and wrapped his green bathrobe around his pajamas and went to the hall. The house was completely peaceful, yet Harry knew that something was wrong. He walked up the steps to the third floor and peeked around the halls. No one was out, the doors were closed and everything seemed quite normal, so Harry went downstairs. He could feel it, his mind whirling and screaming that there was something wrong, just like when he was a kid. He stepped into the kitchen, empty; he turned and headed towards the parlor, he stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
There, sitting on the floor, couches, coffee table, and desks were girls, hundreds of them, or so Harry thought. They were all speaking and laughing loudly, giggling and shrieking with happiness, but Harry couldn't hear them at all, he just saw their happy faces, totally oblivious to the fact that he was standing right there. Sitting in the center of this madness, was Corliss, laughing and talking with a group of girls around her.   
  
She turned her head to look at another group and saw Harry, standing there with the most surprised look on his face, hair tousled, and groggy eyed, in all his Harry Potter glory. Her face paled and she tapped the girl behind her, who was coincidentally, Candace. The rest of the girls turned to look at Harry as well, seeing him, they all continued sitting, but looked up at the two young Potters.  
  
Corliss walked through the doorway and out of the silencing charm to her father.  
  
"Daddy, er..." She began.  
  
"Corliss, how many girls are in there?"  
  
"Including Candace and myself, er... seventeen..."  
  
"Ah, Seventeen. Well then, why are they here, at eleven at night?"  
  
"Well, Mum always lets me have my friends over, at night... without her permission...."  
  
"Oh, well then..." Harry looked down at her with the most staid face he could muster.  
  
He was still shocked beyond all belief and continued to stare at his daughter strait in the eyes.  
  
"Corliss, if this EVER happens again, you are going to be out of this house. They can stay, but ONLY this time..."  
  
Harry smiled at her and sent her on her way after she nearly knocked him over with her trademark hug.  
  
"By the way," Harry continued, "Who put up the silencing charm for you?"  
  
"Sonia." Corliss replied as she ran back into the parlor with her friends.  
  
Harry shook his head as he watched her bounce back into the bunch. So Sonia was in on this too.   
  
Yes, Corliss was exactly like him. He would have done the exact same thing, given the advantage that she has. Harry was a sap and she knew it, bending him around her little finger was Corliss' specialty. Harry looked at the group of girls as they all smiled and waved to him. He waved back and went to the kitchen for some tea, strong tea.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Corliss, how did your dad know that we were in here? He couldn't hear us, could he?" asked one of the girls on the floor.  
  
"I bet he could. My mother told me that when they were in school together, Harry could hear a pin drop from thirteen miles away and see through solid objects!" Said another.  
  
"Yeah! And he beat Voldermort seven times with his fire-breath and an arm tied behind his back!" one said.  
  
"Yeah, and then he shot all the death eaters to hell with fire bolts from his arse... Give me a break! My dad can't even bake a chicken without setting out house on fire, it is just that he is a little strange. It's called 'Harry intuition'. Only your mums have intuitions, well BOTH my parents have it. Mum said that the 'Harry intuition' drove her insane when they were back in school; Always had a knack for knowing where there was trouble of some sort. And it isn't divination, she told me that she was more than positive it wasn't. Never told me how she knew though."  
  
"That's kind of creepy." Replied on of the girls on the sofa.  
  
"Tell me about it." Corliss replied.  
  
All the girls burst out into giggles and began chatting loudly once again.   
  
~*~*~*~ 


	8. Sunday Morning

Day 3  
  
Sunday morning  
  
~  
Harry whirled around in the dream at hand, blissful and brilliant in its own way.   
He was sitting on a bench in a calm, tranquil park next to a little birdbath and a fountain with a statue of a woman pouring water into a basin on the top. Harry looked at his surroundings and sighed happily, he could finally have some peace and quiet. He leaned back on the bench and closed his eyes; just breathing in the cool park air was refreshing his body and soul. Suddenly, there were warm gentle hands on his chest and shoulder, startling him out of he calm reverie. He turned his head and stared into the eyes of his beautiful wife, smiling right at him.   
  
"Hermione," he whispered, "I've missed you so much."  
  
She only looked deep into his emerald eyes and continued to smile. She placed a soft kiss on his chin and left a trail of airy kisses up to his lips where he captured hers with a searing passion. Harry put his arm around her back to bring her as close as possible to him, not wanting to miss one second of what was happening. He continued to kiss her with all of his detained passion; he might have well just inhaled her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and straddled his lap while still on the park bench. Harry smiled inwardly as he anticipated what would happen in the next couple of minutes, even if it did have to happen in the middle of a public park on a moldy wooden bench, Hermione was with him, and that is all that mattered. But the she stopped. He opened his mouth to question her when she slapped him hard across the face.   
  
He stared at her wide-eyed. "Hermione, wha..."  
  
"Why did I ever agree to marry you? You made a terrible husband and a wretched father!" She screamed as she fell to the grass, sobbing and brining her knees to her chin. Hermione curled herself into a ball in the middle of the grass and began to cry hysterically and randomly screaming out, "horrible father! Horrible husband! Horrible lover!"   
  
Harry looked at his wife on the ground, torn and beaten, his heart almost stopped beating with the terrible guilt that he felt. He was killing Hermione! He quickly rushed to her but was stopped by six young girls.   
  
"Stop right there!" Corliss said angrily as she came between Harry and Hermione.  
  
"Corliss, move, your mother is hurt!" Harry said anxiously as he tried to brush her away. A scorching pain shot up through Harry's hand as he touched Corliss' shoulder, which looked only too familiar.  
  
"I don't think so, Harry. You're the reason my mother is dying. You were a lousy father and we all hate you, so just DIE!" With that, Corliss pushed Harry and he began to spin backwards into darkness. He continued to fall for eternity, tears streaking his face and flying with him. He finally hit a surface, a springy, uncomfortable bed in a tiny room with shelves and cleaning supplies all around. He knew where he was, back in his old cupboard. Suddenly, the room began to shake violently and a booming voice rang throughout the insignificant space.   
  
"Wake up Potter, we're going to the zoo!"  
  
Harry shot up.  
  
"Well, it's about bloody time, Mab and I were starting to think that you were dead."  
  
Harry looked at his surroundings, his white walls with red and gold drapes framing the windows, the large cherry wood wardrobe sitting peacefully in the corner, red haired, tall, muscular Weasley standing next to him with a terribly amused expression and little Mabel jumping up and down next to him on the bed.   
  
"Morning Daddy, Uncle Ronnie came in to visit!" She said excitedly as she continued to messily eat a chocolate frog, smearing it all over her face.   
  
Harry looked at her and then back at Ron, wiping the sweat from his brown and then relaxing just a bit.  
  
"What's the matter, mate? Had a bad dream?" Ron asked, with a hint of concern evident in his voice.   
  
"No Ron, it isn't one of those dreams, just a normal bad dream." Harry sighed as he leaned against his headboard. Ron's grin returned to his face as he folded his arms across his chest.   
  
"Well then, now that we are sure that Daddy isn't having a sudden attack of ESP, then I think that we should give him the good news, what do you say Mab?"  
  
Mabel nodded her head as she continues to lick the melted chocolate off her hands.  
  
"Harry, we are going to the zoo, I thought that it would be nice if we could take the girls out!"   
  
"That would be alright, Ron, but I don't think that I feel well enough to go out." Harry said as he put his hand on his forehead, just the dull thud of a migraine, not a relic from a burning scar.   
  
"Alright then, suit yourself." Ron said as he shrugged off.  
  
"I know why you're doing this." Harry said slyly.  
  
"To spend time with my favorite nieces, of course!"   
  
"No, you want to go pick up girls again. Did Cynthia break it off this weekend?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
Ron stalked out of the room and back down the stairs.  
  
"Daddy, I want you to come!" Mab said sadly as she plopped herself on Harry's lap.  
  
"Sorry, Mab, Daddy doesn't feel very well. Are Corliss' friends still here?"  
  
She nodded her head.  
  
Harry groaned as he picked her up and swung her around the room. "You go have fun with Uncle Ron, today. And make sure that he doesn't pull the 'Happy Daddy' routine again. Remember what happened last time?"  
  
Mabel began to giggle as she remembered her uncle Ron buying her stuffed animal after stuffed animal just to show a pretty witch that he was a loving father type person.   
  
~^~^~^~^~  
  
Harry walked down the stairs in his bathrobe with Mabel in his arms and into the hoard of girls walking around the kitchen. Ron was pushing his way through the masses, which was easy since he was well over two feet taller than each of them, and trying to pry himself towards Harry.   
  
"Oi, next time tell me before you decide to invite over half of the teen population in England." Ron complained as he finally pushed aside one more.  
  
"Wasn't my idea, I found them last night." Harry shrugged as he moved past him so he could attempt to make it to the kitchen. It was near impossible.   
  
"Please... excuse me... pardon me...sorry... ouch... sorry about your foot! Please dear, move aside..." Harry was coming closer to the stove he decided that the table was the furthest that he could go.   
  
"Morning, Mr. Potter!" Came various greetings from random girls.  
  
Harry was smiling and saying 'hello' to the ones that passed him when he saw Naresha come down the stairs.  
  
"Move." She stated plainly. Instantly, a narrow path from where she stood to the refrigerator parted and she walked through calmly. Harry and Ron gaped at her, open mouthed and wide-eyed. She took what she needed and left, the path quickly vanishing. Ron looked back at Naresha then at Harry.  
  
"Wonder where she got that skill from." He said as he continued to try and push his way to the table.  
  
"Where do you think, Ron? I could never do anything like that even if I had all the power in the wizarding world."  
  
"Hermione." They both said in unison.  
  
~^~^~^~^~^~  
  
Ron had the last bunch of girls touching the old bed mattress and looked behind him to stare at Harry.  
  
"You sure you don't want to come?" He asked once again.  
  
"No, you have fun with the girls, I'll stay here." Harry replied.  
  
"Alright. You're missing out. They got a new Python, just thought you'd like to know. The zoo is getting awfully frustrated with their snakes escaping all the time." Ron said, giving Harry a knowing eye.   
  
He just rolled his eyes and pushed Ron on the shoulder.   
  
"Just make sure that you are home by six. Hermione should be home a little after that, and I'm sure the girls would love to see her back home once again." He said.   
  
Ron nodded and touched a piece of the rotting fabric, "See you then." And with that, they disappeared, on their way to the zoo.  
  
Harry closed his eyes and turned around, finally alone in the house. He trudged up the stairs and to his room when he heard the floor boards above him creak. Who was home?  
He walked up the stairs to the third floor and went around the halls, following the direction of the noise, then stopped in front of the last door in the hall. Naresha's door.   
  
Harry knocked and waited for a reply. He heard the noise stop and then continue, moving slowly to the door. "Who is it?" Came the voice from inside.  
  
"Naresha, it's me. I was wondering if we could talk."  
  
  
~  
This chapter was for KT-Beth. OF COURSE I read my reviews, so make them good! That was just a little H/H that you were begging for. I ALWAYS try to make my reviewers happy!  
  
~Biride 


	9. Sunday Afternoon and Night

A/N: I am just a billion times sorry that this has come out so late. But, this is the last chapter so the wait will be no more! It is actually three chapters in one that took me eternity to write due to cases of writer's block, ten page essays on the history of medicine and having only 48 seconds a day to breathe. But I have been sick for the past three days and have finished! Thank God for contagious diseases.  
  
"Outnumbered"  
  
Day 3- Sunday Noon   
  
Harry heard heavy footfalls, cautious and unreasonable. The door creaked open only a bit, but just enough to see one cherry-wood eye staring back at him, confusion and frustration evident in her gaze. She looked back at him for a little while before slowly opening the door, keeping her eyes averted to the floor while he stepped past her and into the orange and violet room. Naresha left the door and stood in the middle of the area, arms crossed over her chest and her weight balanced on one leg. She just continued to scowl at him while he pulled up her desk chair and sat down.  
  
"Naresha, I think that we started off badly." Harry started. He looked at the floor, waiting for her response.  
  
"Well, yes." Naresha answered coldly. Her tone was icy, and the glare she gave Harry could freeze hell.  
  
"Where did you meet Mal... the boy?"  
  
"He is in seventh year and is captain of the Quidditch team. He gets good grades and is liked by most of the teachers." Naresha said innocently, trying to make this snake sound like gold. But this was only too familiar.  
  
"Sounds like a good kid." Harry said, trying to sound as oblivious as possible.  
  
"Yes, he is. He is one of the most fancied boys in school and he happens to like ME, Dad. ME! Naresha Potter! Who am I do be liked by such a person."  
  
"Naresha, don't ever say that. I am surprised at you!"  
  
"Why, because you always thought that I was one of the golden daughters like Asenath, Sonia or Corliss? No, Dad, I'm not."  
  
"No, Don't be stupid. I'm just surprised that you are thick enough to think that a Malfoy is better than you."  
  
Naresha stared at her father in surprise.   
  
"There is something that I would like to tell you about the Malfoy family. They might be extremely rich, good looking, smart and even somewhat talented, but trust me, you don't want to be touching one, even with a three-mile long wand. The only thing Malfoys are good for is making more Malfoys and bouncing ferrets."  
  
Naresha looked at her father blankly. "What do you mean, they make good bouncing ferrets?"  
  
Harry smiled inwardly as he colorfully imagined that glorious day in the great hall with Mad Eye Moody and the little white weasel.   
  
"When I was in my fourth year, the most amazing thing happened..."   
  
For an hour and a half, Harry sat on the violet bed with his daughter laughing at the tales he was recalling from his childhood of the Malfoys. Naresha confessed that she had met Mr. Malfoy once, and how he just looked at her with disgust. Laird just said that had been hit with a curse that messed up his face and that his grimacing scowl was actually a brilliant smile. Harry burst out laughing when he heard that. Apparently, the boy had inherited his mother's wit, which wasn't saying much, seeing that it was a certain numb skull named Parkinson.   
  
After another fit of giggles from Naresha, she looked at her father and put a hand on his arm.   
  
"I'm sorry, Dad. I really didn't mean any of the things that I had said. Honest. It's just that, well, I'm really stressed out and I don't know whether snogging Laird is really helping my problem or just making me sink lower into it."  
  
"Naresha, you are sinking. Even standing in the same room as a Malfoy and not being bothered by it is considered temporary insanity." He smiled at his daughter again and gave her a hug.   
  
"You see, your old man isn't that bad when it comes to gossip."  
  
"No Dad, too bad it happened almost twenty five years ago. I think you need to catch up a bit, eh?"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Look at the lovely zebra, Mabel! Isn't it just lovely?"  
  
"Yes, Uncle Ron! I love zebras! I would like to hug one!" Mabel said loudly. Ron picked her up off the ground and placed her on his shoulders. Mabel giggled as he spun around in a circle.  
  
Ron's eyes quickly darted to a quite attractive young woman wearing a yellow dress under a white coat and scarf who was conveniently in hearing range of them. She was looking at him and smiling. Score one for Ron Weasley.  
  
"Aww. Is that your daughter?" she asked, smiling and waving at Mabel who was holding on to Ron's fiery red hair.  
  
"No, this is my best friend's youngest daughter. I'm not married. Or dating." He laughed as she continued to smile at him.  
  
"Oh, that is so sweet of you!" The woman cooed.   
  
"We were just going to meet up with the rest of the group for pizza, would you care to come along?" he asked her, trying to sound innocent.  
  
"There are more?"  
  
"Oh yes, around twenty two more."  
  
"Well then! Your friend must be a very busy man!"  
  
"Oh no! They are some friends. Only five are his. I decided to take them out for the day. They all love their uncle."  
  
She giggled and looped her arm around his.  
  
"Shall we go then ladies?" Ron asked as he looked up. Mab enthusiastically nodded her head in agreement while the lady smiled brilliantly.  
  
"I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley."   
  
"Scarlet, Scarlet Whiteman."  
  
"Well then, Scarlet, shall we be off?"   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this, Dad?" Naresha asked as she stood next to the fireplace.  
  
"Of course, dear. If you are going to be dating this boy, then I am going to have to get used to seeing him more often than I'd like. Malfoy or not, I'll try and bear the pain of being in one's presence..." Harry put on a pained look and put a hand to his forehead for a dramatic effect.   
  
Naresha rolled her eyes at her childish father and laughed a little, finally noticing that he wasn't that bad when she listened to him.  
  
There was a sudden burst of green flames and a figure appeared, emerged in the intense light.   
  
"Laird!" she squealed as she ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Harry looked away, it physically hurt him to see one of his children even standing in the same room as a Malfoy and not flinching. He stood up and walked over to the two young people and held his hand out to Laird.   
  
"Hello, Laird. I would first like to apologize for the way I acted, it was completely uncalled for." Harry winced as the words uttered forth from his lips.  
  
"That's alright Mr. Potter, I had figured that your first reaction would be like that." Said the platinum blond boy.  
  
Harry looked at the boy as if he were seeing him for the first time. He had was a replica of his father, as most Malfoys were, tall with silver-blond hair falling past their steel gray eyes, a muscular build and a slender face. But this boy wasn't as rigid as his father was. His stance was laid-back with an idle attitude and careless gestures, it seemed as if the young Malfoy and the older weren't even close to being related. They were completely different people, but not.  
  
"So, Laird, I heard that you like Quidditch?" Harry asked. He was going to question this boy until his ears fell from his pretty head.  
  
"Yes, sir. I'm actually captain of the Slytherin team and keeper."  
  
"Your father was seeker, did you know that?"  
  
"Actually, he reminds me almost every day that I'm at home. Tells me how he was one of the greatest seekers that Slytherin had ever had."  
  
Harry nodded his head and sat in concentration.  
  
"I somehow doubt that." Laird continued.  
  
Harry laughed and patted the boy on the shoulder. "We are going to get along quite well, Mr. Malfoy. Very well indeed..."  
  
The continued to talk about Laird and his life in Hogwarts when more green flames began to lick the stone fireplace again. A tall man stood in the midst of the ash and dust, his billowing black robes behind him, his hair, a silver mop over his gaunt face.   
  
"Malfoy, I didn't expect to see you in my house." Harry stated as Draco walked over to where they all sat.  
  
"Well, I thought that I would see what my no-good son was up to." He drawled lazily. He began to look around at the large house and smirked.   
  
"Quite humble surrounding, Potter. I thought that 'the-boy-who-lived' would be much better off than this."  
  
"This is home, I don't think that having a six story mansion stuffed to the brim with priceless rubbish will amount to anything more." Harry responded calmly.  
  
Draco sneered at him and then turned to his son. "Laird, we're leaving now."  
  
"But, Father, I was just spending time with Naresha and Mr. Potter." Laird said, not budging from his seat.  
  
"Leave the boy alone, Malfoy. I invited him here. But I can't remember saying anything of that sort to you, so why don't you just sod off, eh?"  
  
"What a terrible host you are, Potter! I expected at least a warm greeting from an old school friend." He planted a sarcastic smile on his face and crossed his arms over his chest.   
  
"Oh, shut it, Malfoy. I really am not in the mood for your stupidity, today. Talk to me on Wednesday."  
  
Draco's smile faded and he glared at the black haired man with malice. "You never learned any matters, didn't you, Potter?"  
  
"Why are they only on a last name basis?" Naresha whispered to the boy next to her. He only shrugged his shoulders at her and continued to watch the two men bicker.   
  
"Ripticentra!" Draco shouted. Harry went soaring through the air and landed flat on his back right on a wooden table, breaking it in half on impact.   
  
"DAD!" Naresha screamed as she ran to her father who was half conscious on the floor. "Are you alright?" she asked while trying to help him sit up.  
  
Harry looked up at his daughter with fire in his eyes. Naresha, having never seen Harry like this before, was startled by the intense anger. She gasped and stepped away from the raging man, practically terrified of him.  
  
"You'll pay for that Malfoy." Harry said as he stood up and wiped away a trickle of blood from his lip. Draco threw three knuts at his feet.  
  
"That's for a another table, I think that you might need a new one." He said as he smiled maliciously.   
  
"Diffendo!" Harry hexed.  
  
The two men took their turns spinning and flying across the room, breaking and scattering furniture as they went. The room was filled with utter chaos for ten minutes.  
  
Harry aimed and yelled, "This is to make up for when it hadn't worked the first time. Eat slugs, Malfoy!!"   
  
A yellow light hit Draco right in the stomach and he bent over in pain.   
  
"Dad? Er... You're turning green..." Laird murmured as he watched his father kneel on the floor in pain.   
  
"Accio camera." Harry whispered in the direction of the stairs. In seconds, a small wizard camera came whizzing down the carpeted steps and into the palm of Harry's hand. With a quick flash, all of Harry's dreams had come true.   
  
"Keep them coming, Malfoy! You're doing wonderful!" He said excitedly, continuing to snap the photos.  
  
"I'm going to *burp* kill you, *burp* Pott *burp* er..." Draco wheezed as the slugs continued to pop from his mouth.  
  
"Come on then, Father, let's go home." Laird sighed as he led his father back to the fireplace.  
  
"You might want this, Malfoy!" Harry tossed him a large bucket. "And don't worry. It only took Ron six hours to recover, you'll be fine!"   
  
Draco stabbed Harry with his venomous eyes and turned back to the fireplace, but not without spitting out one more slug right on Harry's shoe before leaving.   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Harry and Naresha were sitting at the kitchen table, sipping at their tea when they heard the fireplace burst with intrusion again. Narehsa poked her head around the corner to find Ron and the girls back from the zoo.  
  
"What did I miss?" Ron hollered. He was staring, wide-eyed and gaping at the muddled room, broken tables, chairs and lamps were scattered about the room, in a sea of glass shards and splinters.  
  
"It was priceless, but don't worry, I have pictures!" Harry shouted back as he got up to see his friend and daughters.  
  
"What was priceless?" Ron asked.  
  
"DAD! There's a slug on my shoe! EWWW! Gross!" Candace shrieked as she kicked the slimy creature off of her.  
  
"No." Ron stated plainly. "Did you?" he pointed to the flying slug.  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
Ron threw his fist in the air and whooped for joy. "I can't beli... How? Why? HA!" Ron was a jumble of confusion and glee that such an event could have ever occurred so he went up and hugged Harry as hard as possible. "I love you like a brother!" he shouted again. Harry was smiling just as broadly.   
  
"So girls, how was the zoo?" Harry asked once Ron had finally collected himself again.   
  
"It was nice." Sonia commented.  
  
"Beautiful day." Asenath agreed.  
  
"I liked the zebras." Candace chimed.  
  
"I liked the apes. They looked like Candace. Especially the one with the big red bum." Corliss replied.   
  
"Corliss, that isn't nice." Harry scolded. "Wait, where's Mab?"  
  
"She's here somewhere." Ron said as he looked around. "Maybe she's in the lavatory."   
  
Harry went to the bathroom and knocked on the door. The door slowly swayed open to reveal that no one was inside.   
  
"Mabel!" Harry shouted from the stairs. "MABEL!"   
  
"Ron, she isn't here. Where is she?" Harry asked again, this time panicking. He began to frantically search the house, turning over cushions and chairs as if he were searching for a lost sock.   
  
"RON! YOU LEFT MY DAUGHTER AT THE ZOO!" Harry screamed at his friend.   
  
"I'm sorry! I thought that she was with us! I swear! I was just busy with Scarlet and..."  
  
"BUSY WITH SCARLET! RON! YOU. LOST. MY. DAUGHTER!!!" Harry began to turn red for the second time that day. Naresha looked at him and backed away again.   
  
"She's still at the zoo, we should go back and find her." Ron suggested.  
  
"YES RON! I THINK THAT WOULD BE A SPLENDID IDEA!" Hermione would have his skin if he had lost their youngest daughter in the London zoo. No, she would have his skin if she knew that he had trusted RON to losing their daughter in the London Zoo. "Asenath, Sonia, come with me..."   
  
They both nodded their head and the four quickly apparated to the zoo where the smallest Potter might have been waiting, alone and lost in the big world of muggles where she didn't belong.   
  
They all met behind one of the main buildings and began to plan. "Ron, you check the primate house and the main shops. Asenath, if you take the North end, and Sonia, takes South end, then I'll go to West end and the aquarium. Everyone meet back here in one hour, alright?" They all agreed and then parted on their directed paths, seeking out the missing Potter.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Harry walked over to the West section of the zoo where the larger animals were kept. He frantically searched ever crook and nanny of the buildings and the pens, praying that his daughter would come running to him, safe and free from any harm.   
  
"Have you seen a little girl? She's about this tall and has black hair, green eyes. Please, has anyone seen my daughter?" He would ask all the people passing by. Most shook their head at him and some, the women in particular, puffed out their chests and stalked by.  
  
"What a horrible man!" They would say to their husbands, " Loosing a poor little girl in the middle of London Zoo. If I were his wife, I'd let him have it!"   
  
"Yes, dear." The husbands would reply. Most of them slowed down to give Harry a sympathetic glance and a squeeze on the shoulder. He just wanted to scream! All these people judging him when all he wanted was his daughter back! He didn't even loose her, Ron did.  
~*~*~*~  
  
After a quarter of an hour of searching the zoo, high and low, Harry finally came to the last place he had to search, the reptile house. He quickly jogged through the double doors and began to look around. Children were surrounding the tanks and pressing their faces to the glass, pointing and tapping while the snakes and lizards would sit on their sticks and continue to ignore the mobs of heads.   
  
He passed the smaller tanks and to one of the larger ones where a boa constrictor was resting lazily on a branch.   
  
"Excuse me, can you please tell me if you have seen a small girl, about this tall, black hair, green eyes, wearing a pink jumper, blue coat with a pink scarf and jeans?" Harry hissed to the snake.  
  
"Yesssss." She replied. "Over there."  
  
She lifted her head and pointed it to the large python take that stood in the middle of the next room.  
  
"Thank you." He nodded courteously and quickly ran to it. Harry figured. Of course he could get better answers from snakes than anyone else in the London crowd...  
  
There she was, pressing her small face to the glass and hissing at the snake, wrinkling her brow in frustration and confusion when the snake didn't even budge.   
  
"Come on!" she finally shouted at it.  
  
"Mabel! I have been looking all over for you!" Harry shouted as he grabbed the little girl and hugged her tightly. "Why did you leave, Uncle Ron?"   
  
"Sorry, Daddy. I didn't know that he had gone. I just wanted to talk to the snake, like you."   
  
"Oh, honey! Just promise me that you will never wander off again! You almost gave daddy and heart attack, and Uncle Ron could have been severely mutilated."  
  
"Sorry, Daddy." She said as she hugged his neck.   
  
"It's alright, Mab."   
  
"Daddy, why can't I talk to the snake like you?" she asked him. Harry put her on the floor as he knelt down to her level.   
  
"Mab, it isn't the greatest gift ever given. It nearly had me killed when I was a kid. Why do you want to talk to snakes so much?"  
  
"Because, Asenath, Sonia and Candace are smart like Mummy, Corliss is good at Kiddich like you, and Naresha can sing like Grandmum Lily. I can't do anything."  
  
"Mabel! You are four years old! You will find out what talents you have soon enough. Until then, how about we talk to this chap?" Harry nodded towards the snoozing snake in his tank.   
  
"Hello there, sir. My daughter would like to speak with you." He said to the animal.   
  
The large snake opened one small beady black eye, staring at Harry as if he was anything usual, then closed his eye and continued about his business.  
  
"Well thanks for your time. Ruddy bastard..."   
  
"What did you say to the snake, Daddy?"   
  
"Oh, er... I told him to continue sleeping, he was awfully tiered. How about we chat with the lovely boa over there. She's much more awake than he is." Mab took her father's hand and led him to the boa.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"MABEL! There you are, honey! I was so worried." Ron said as she and Harry came walking down to the building where they had agreed to meet.  
  
"Shut it, Weasley, you're still dead meat." Harry threatened. Ron swallowed hard and then looked pleadingly at Asenath. Both the girls giggled and shrugged their shoulders at their helpless uncle.  
  
"Don't worry, mate. I'll only give you a nasty boil, or break your arm. Nothing much."   
  
Harry held Mabel in his arms and they all apparated back to the Potter home, safe and sound with all Potters accounted for at last.   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sunday - Afternoon  
  
The phone rang.  
  
"Hullo, Potter residence." Harry said into it.  
  
"Harry! Goodness, it's good to hear your voice again." Said the voice on the other end.  
  
"Oh, hullo, love. How has your vacation been?"   
  
"Wonderful, Harry. I'll be coming home tonight, right before dinner. Hope you're making something special."   
  
"I miss you. A lot."   
  
"I miss you too, love. How are the girls?"  
  
"Splendid."  
  
"Any trouble?"  
  
"No. None at all." Harry hated having to lie, especially to Hermione.  
  
"That's odd. I expected there to be at least one lost child, one broken bone and a couple more accidents. Really? The girls have been good?" She sounded completely surprised.  
  
"Really, they've been wonderful."  
  
"Did you tie, bound and gag them in their rooms?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, I guess I was wrong, Harry. You can take care of the house on your own. I'm very proud, love. Oh! I'm bringing back a surprise for you all!"  
  
"Really? What is it?"   
  
"I'll show you when I get home, alright?"  
  
"Fine then."   
  
" I'll see you tonight. Good bye, Harry."  
  
"See you, Hermione." With that, they hung up. Did she really believe that everything was alright? Hermione wasn't stupid, she knew something was up. Harry decided that it was a real shame she quit divination, he thought that she could have really excelled in it.  
  
Harry walked into the kitchen to tell the girls that their mother would finally return and everything would go back to normal on Monday. There would be no more broken bones, no more burnt chickens, and no more lost girls for the rest of his life. The girls were sitting at the table, laughing and cheering as Corliss and Ron were throwing peanuts in the air and catching them in their mouths. There was no possible way that this would lead to something good.  
  
"Oh, really mature, Ron. Thanks for setting a wonderful example for the girls," Harry shouted over the cheers. Corliss picked up the last peanut in her bag and threw it up in the air.  
  
"It's Corliss' last!" Candace shouted.  
  
"Uncle Ron still has three to go!" Sonia laughed.  
  
Candace caught it and swallowed!   
  
"I WIN!" she hollered, throwing her arms up in the air triumphantly, standing up and dancing around the kitchen. Suddenly, she stopped cheering and began to cough, slowly turning purple.  
  
"Oh! Corliss! Dad! She's choking!" Screamed Sonia.  
  
"Oh God. Corliss." Harry ran to his daughter and started patting her back.   
  
"DAD! That's not working!" Naresha observed, everyone was beginning to panic as Corliss continued to turn colors and cough violently.   
  
Harry pushed Corliss, back down so she bent over, he then went in front of her and sat on the floor, looking up at her. "Corliss, open your mouth, wide." He commanded.  
  
She did as she was told, still coughing and holding her throat.   
  
Harry took out his wand and pointed it at her mouth. "Accio peanut".  
  
The little nut came flying out of her mouth and right into the palm of Harry's hand in a small puddle of saliva. Corliss stopped coughing and color slowly came back to her face.   
  
"Dad, that's gross," said Naresha, staring at the wet peanut in Harry's hand.  
  
"Trust me, Naresha, you have spit up more disgusting things all over me. This is nothing." Harry wiped his hands with a napkin and stood up. "Alright there, Corliss?"   
  
She nodded as Asenath continued to rub her back, gently.   
  
"Ron, can I see you in the other room, just for a second." Harry stared pointedly at the terrified man in the center of the room, fear evident in his large brow eyes. They slowly walked together to the other room Ron behind Harry, throwing pleading back-glances at the girls.  
  
"Face him like a man, Uncle Ron!" Corliss wheezed.  
  
There was a long pause of silence, the girls looked at each other, holding their breath and hoping that their father would let their uncle Ron off easily. There was a distinct fizzle sound with a short spark before the eerie silence resumed. Harry came back into the room with Ron, and a large boil in the middle of his forehead. All the girls burst out laughing at the sight of him.   
  
"How are you going to hide that one, Uncle Ron?" Candace asked as Ron pulled out a chair from the kitchen table.   
  
Ron just gave her an angry look and sat down as they all began to laugh again.   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sunday - Night  
  
Harry, Ron and the girls were setting the table while Candace and Sonia slaved away in the kitchen. Pouring over sizzling pots and steaming pans filled with creamy sauces and delicious food. Then sent drifted into the eating area where the rest of the happy family was setting the table. They all stopped to inhale the luscious aroma and smile at the thought of finally sitting down to a real meal. Harry put the last of the nine setting out when there was a loud knock at the door.   
  
"I'll get it!" Asenath said excitedly. She smiled giddily while straitening her robes and smoothing down her hair before opening the door.   
  
Harry and Ron poked their heads out to the hallway, curiously, just to see whom it was. Asenath was speaking with a young man, around twenty-six years old; he had light brown hair, slicked back and sparkling blue eyes.   
  
"Oh, Dad. This is Jean-Claude Arrete, the one from the ministry. He came over to drop off some papers that are due next Monday, but would it be alright if he stayed for dinner?" She asked innocently.  
  
Harry knew she had planned this, clever little witch.  
  
"No problem." He said and extended his hand to the man. "I'm Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you."   
  
"Yes. Likewize. I am Jean-Pierre Arrete. It iz a pleazere to meet you and your family at last!" He shook Harry's hand and then turned to Ron.  
  
"Oh, Ron Weasley." Ron shook his hand. They all noticed that Jean-Claude was staring at Ron's oversized boil.  
  
"Zat'z iz a pretty bad boil. A hex?" He asked.  
  
"Yes." Ron replied, looking at Harry with a meaningful glare. Suddenly, the chimney burst into green flame.   
  
"Hermione?" Harry called from the entrance.  
  
"Sorry, Mr. Potter, it's just me again." Laird said as he stepped into the room.   
  
"Laird!" Naresha squealed as she walked into his arms.   
  
"I just wanted to apologize for my father's behavior. He doesn't believe that I am being wise, investing my time and emotions on a Potter. But he can go suck a house-elf." Laird muttered that last part under his breath.   
  
"Well, I accept your apology, Laird. Would like to stay for dinner too?"   
  
"Sure. Thank you."   
  
Harry went and set two more places at the table when there was another knock at the door.  
  
"Who now..." He grumbled while walking over to answer the door. There stood a beautiful woman bundled up in a red coat and white scarf, her flowered dress being blown behind her by the cruel winter winds.   
  
"Scarlet!" Ron exclaimed. He fumbled with one of Harry's caps to try and cover up his enormous boil.   
  
"Hello Ron! You're Harry Potter, am I right?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, Scarlet, Ron has told me about you. Please, won't you come in?" He stepped aside for her to enter.  
  
"Hullo, Ron!" She embraced him warmly kissed his cheek.   
  
"Glad you came, Scarlet." He said.  
  
"So, is it alright if you come out to dinner with me?" She asked, running her finger over his jaw line seductively.  
  
"Well, I was actually staying here, but I'm sure Harry would love to have you too! Come on then, we'll put an extra setting for you as well."   
  
Harry rolled his eyes and whipped out his wand and cast a spell over the table, extending it another two feet to accommodate the new group of guests. He was beginning to think that Corliss would invite the group of girls from last night over for dinner as well  
  
"How did you do that?" Scarlet stared in amazement once the table had finished growing.   
  
Harry's eyes widened as he quickly understood and hid his wand behind his back.   
  
"Ron, can I speak with you again?" Harry said, motioning to the kitchen. Once they were in, he let it out on Ron once again.  
  
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME SHE WAS A MUGGLE!" he screamed.  
  
"No! She isn't just a muggle, she's a beautiful muggle!" answered Ron. "It slipped my mind."   
  
"A lot of things are slipping your mind, today. You know what we're going to have to do."   
  
"I know. But at least I'll have had one good date out of this."   
  
Harry punched his friend in the arm and came back to the dining room to see Scarlet talking to Jean - Claude and Asenath and holding Mabel on her lap.   
  
"Dinner should be ready soon!" Candace shouted from over the oven and stove.   
  
Everyone began to pile into the eating area when there yet another burst of green flame from the fireplace.   
  
"Hermione!" Harry shouted as he walked over to embrace his wife.   
  
"Oh Harry, it's so good to see you! I have missed you all far too much." She said as she hugged her husband and placed a small kiss on his lips.   
  
The girls came over to their mother as fast as possible, happily smiling and calling her name.   
  
"Oh, girls! How have you been?"   
  
"Wonderful. Dad has actually taken wonderful care of us." Asenath said as she hugged her mother tightly.  
  
Corliss snorted and tried to conceal her bout of laughter. Harry turned to her and gave her a very warning glace, one similar to the one that he had given Ron quite a few times that day.   
  
"Hello, Hermione, welcome back." Ron said, stepping in from the back of the room.  
  
"You too, Ron! Glad you made it."   
  
With all of the 'welcome home' s and the 'glad to have you back's were completed, the groups finally were able to sit down for their lovely dinner.  
  
The talk between the people was extremely random and, at times, amusing.  
  
"Ron, why are you wearing that cap on at the table, I think you should take it off." Hermione scolded from the end of the table where she sat with Harry and Candace.  
  
"Er... if it's alright with you, Hermione, I would rather leave it on." He pleaded while giving her wide and begging eyes.  
  
"Yes, Ron. Do take off your hat." Harry encouraged, trying to hide his snickers by covering his mouth with his napkin.  
  
Ron gave Harry one last dirty look before complying. He slowly removed the hat and cast the large boil for everyone's view.   
  
Hermione couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing, Harry along with her. Ron began to turn red all over, slowly matching the color of his hair, so no one knew where his skin ended and hair began.  
  
"Oh, it's a bad looking boil. But with a little oil it might go away." Scarlet sympathized with him. She turned in her chair and kissed his cheek, patting back his hair. "You look more adorable without the hat anyway."   
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
After dinner, everyone had settled down into the parlor where Hermione retold the tale of her long vacation.  
  
"And then Roule gave me a bag of tropical fruits and nuts, and I was finally on my way home."  
  
"Wow, Mum. Sounds like you had a wonderful time." Naresha sighed as she imagined a tall dark and handsome wizard hand feeding her exotic fruits. Laird turned his head to stare at her blankly.  
  
"Yes, it was wonderful. Oh! But I have a surprise for all of you!" She went to her bag and pulled out a dark yellow envelope tied with brown string.  
  
"I just got this yesterday." She handed it to Harry who slowly opened it. The envelope and its contents fell to the floor.   
  
"Dad? Dad, what is it?" Sonia asked, trying to move closer to her father and the envelope.  
  
Harry's mouth was open and his eyes were wide with shock.  
  
"It's an ultra-scan, girls! I'm pregnant!"  
  
The girls began to cheer and laugh. Congratulations were being thrown about the room, and everyone seemed to be thrilled about the news, except Harry. Ron walked up to his friend and put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezed it.  
  
"It's alright, mate. You've gotten through six, one more isn't going to kill you. But I'll tell, you. Hermione has to me one of the most fertile women in the world, right next to my mum, that is." He said sympathetically.  
  
"I'm going to be a big sister, Daddy! Isn't that great?" Mab shrieked as she jumped up onto Harry's lap.   
  
"Wonderful, honey. Just wonderful..."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
Well, that was the longest chapter I have ever written and you all deserve it.   
  
I actually hadn't thought of the ending until four minutes ago, I just thought of the most ironic thing and made it happen. Ha. Poor Harry. I actually had this whole conversation in French between Asenath and Jean - Claude, but all the translations and stuff got a little complicated and it barely helped the plot, so I took it out.  
  
I actually have a couple namesakes in here that I would LOVE to share with you:  
  
Asenath means 'Father's Daughter'  
  
Sonia means 'Wisdom'  
  
Naresha means 'Ruler of Men'  
  
Corliss means 'Hearty'  
  
Candace means 'Clarity'  
  
Mabel means 'lovable'  
  
Laird means 'Lord of women'  
  
And Jean-Claude is just a random French name that I like. If you are DYING to know its meaning, it's 'God's grace' for Jean and 'Weak' for Claude. I don't think I like that name anymore. I like God! But Scarlet comes from book 4 when Ron tells Hermione that his mum calls girls like her, "scarlet women." I thought of a hooker woman for the girl that Ron goes with, so I named her Scarlet.   
  
I would like to thank all those who have stuck by me all the way! I have appreciated your enthusiasm and want to thank you a million times!  
  
Be sure to look at my newest story, "To be a Hero". You are put in Harry Potter's shoes and you have to choose what you will and will not do, or who you are in love with. It is really fun and it only takes about 7 minutes to do. I DID NOT copy it from the Goosebump books. I didn't even know that they had this kind of thing until some one told me on my review. Oh well.   
  
~Birdie 


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